Did Spurs Sabotage Becky Hammon, Or Is She Just Not Head Coaching Material?
Former Spurs assistant Becky Hammon was the first Trailblazers interview and apparently she impressed. Unfortunately, Spurs' less than "complimentary" review of Hammon led the Blazers in another direction. Just a few days later, the team decided to go with former NBA All-Star Chauncey Billups.
Did the Spurs do Hammon dirty? Here's the full comment that was reported by Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer:
"Hammon impressed Portland officials and was generally liked amongst Blazers staffers. But when Portland reached out for intel from San Antonio figures, the background on Hammon was not nearly as complimentary pertaining to various aspects of day-to-day coaching responsibilities. That sentiment has been echoed by sources around the league. Blazers personnel then cast doubt that Hammon was the candidate to steer the ship through such delicate waters with Lillard."
This is why hiring women has become so difficult
Not only do you have to find Becky Hammon a quality assistant coach to interview her for the most important organizational role in basketball, but you also have to explain why you didn't hire her. Now the Blazers, after simply taking a flier, have to defend themselves like they're sexist.
Same goes for the San Antonio Spurs. Twitter is in rage that Hammon didn't get the job, even though she received poor reviews from a company that champions women in sports. After all, they awarded Becky Hammon's hard work with an assistant coaching role, and then suddenly it's not enough.
No matter how good or bad a job she did in San Antonio, activists want raving reviews for all women. And like I promised, Blazers GM Neil Olshey was forced to make a statement:
"We obviously admire Becky. She did a great job. Making it as far as the owner in the process isn't easy. She made it all the way to the ownership level, which is an endorsement, Olshey said during a press conference to introduce Billups as head coach.
Here's what happened:
Hammon has major flaws, just as most coaches do, and she wasn't hired. It's that simple.
Now anytime she doesn't land a job, there will be a sea of bozos on the internet claiming she didn't make it due to being a woman. It's really got nothing to do with Becky Hammon, but more so to do with minority coaches in general. People would rather say they didn't get the job because of the color of their skin, their gender or their sexual orientation than hear that they have a glaring flaw in their abilities.
Social media has become counterproductive to minorities by being...too pro minority. It's too hostile. Hopefully, Hammon gets a job somewhere because of her ability to coach. If she doesn't land a job because a past employer had a poor review, then she needs to make some adjustments. That's on her.